234 



PSrCHE. 



().-t,,l.,r— IV 



fiiibcr iSfif* 



South Wales. Mr. J. Norton exhibited 

 specimens of this perforated sandstone, from 

 Springwood, Bhie Mountains, at the July 

 meeting of the Linnean society of New 

 South Wales. 



Mr. a. C. Horner notes in the Entnmo- 

 logist for October 1S84 that Ptcrostichiis 

 melaiiarins, an English species, attacks straw- 

 berries, and T. H. Hart, in the November 

 numero of the same periodical, among other 

 notes on phvtophagic carabidae, mentions 

 having seen "three specimens of Carabiis 

 w/o/ffct';/.5 .disputing possession of a half-rot- 

 ten apple." 



In a paper read before the Linnean society 

 of New South Wales, Oct. 29 last. Dr. Len- 

 denfeld contests the views of the French 

 physiologists, that the position and move- 

 ments of the wings of insects are merely the 

 results of the mechanical influence of the 

 resisting air, and gives instances where mus- 

 cular contraction had been clearly proved. — 

 Science, 19 Dec. 1S84, v. 4, p. 562. 



At thk June meeting of the Linnean 

 society of New South Wales, Mr. William 

 Macleay exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Wilkin- 

 son, "a number of //(-//.v-like shells, wound 

 spirally round the leaf-stalks of a species of 

 Eucalyptus, at Branxton, on the Hunter. 

 These shells, though calcareous, were pro- 

 nounced not to be the production of any 

 molluscous animal, and the general opinion 

 was that they must be egg-cases of some 

 insect." 



Mr. Ja.mes J. Walker reports, in the 

 Ei:/omologhl's monthly magazine for Dec. 

 1SS4, that he found Dcrmeitcs vulfinns, Xe- 

 crobia riijipcs, Corynctcs violacciis and Al- 

 p/iitobiiis picens in amazing abundance in a 

 bone-boiling establishment in Sheppev, Eng- 

 land. The first species literally blackened 

 the whitewashed walls of the rooms, and 

 their larvae did much damage by riddling the 

 woodwork of the building with holes in 

 which they pupated. 



The comi'Csition and properties of the 

 light emitted by insects of the Pyrophore 

 genus form the subject of a paper recently 

 presented to the Paris academy of sciences 

 by .'\ubert and P. Dubois. The spectrum of 

 the light, examined by the spectroscope, is 

 very beautiful, but destitute of dark bands. 

 When, however, the intensity diminishes, 

 the red and orange disappear, and the green 

 and yellow only remain. — Science, 2S Nov. 

 1SS4, V. 4, p. 505. 



Prof. A. J: Cook read a i>aper before the 

 Natural-history society of the Michigan 

 agricultural college, on 12 Sept., on exlra- 

 floral nectar. "Bees had been noticed to be 

 extensively at work on the heads of grasses. 

 These proved to be covered with the sweetish 

 secretion due to ergot. The honey made 

 from this material was very agreeable to the 

 taste, ranking with the best, while honey 

 made from the secretions of plant-lice is 

 often very poor and disagreeable." 



According to Science for 21 Nov. 1SS4 

 (Bulletin, p. 5), at the meeting of the Tren- 

 ton natural-history society "Prof. .Vustin C. 

 Apgar detailed his experiments with naph- 

 thalin on Antlirenns- scropkulariae. Larvae 

 left an infested object, and for two weeks 

 lived in an air-tight case, in vapor so dense 

 that it crystallized on the cover-glass. Even 

 then they only apparently died, for, on 

 removal, one revived and walked away. 

 Herbarium mites were killed in half an hour 

 in a tumbler loosely covered." 



The prize ottered by M. Adrien Dollfus 

 for anatomical work on insects (see Psyche, 

 May 1SS4, v. 4, p. 175) was divided between 

 Ph. Francois, of Poitiers, and A. Lameere, 

 of Brussels, whose papers were judged equal- 

 ly worthy of the prize. M. Franijois' paper 

 treated of the anatomy of the larva of 

 Vanessa polyc/iloros, and was published, 

 with a plate, in the Fenillc ties Jciines nai- 

 uralisfes for November 1SS4; Mr. Lameere 

 described the anatomy of the larva of Lasio- 



